Press Release: February 22, 2016

Pahara Institute Announces New Class of Leaders for NextGen Network

SAN FRANCISCO (February 22, 2016) – The Pahara Institute announced today the Spring 2016 cohort of leaders for its NextGen Network. These 24 leaders have been selected to join a Pahara network designed to recognize and support exceptional emerging senior leaders who can amplify the voices of underrepresented communities that are currently not well served by our public schools.

“Supporting outstanding leaders is crucial to our goal of achieving excellence and equity for all our public school students and to create high quality learning environments for our communities,” said Kim Smith, Pahara Institute CEO. “These NextGen Network leaders exemplify the diverse and creative leadership talent we need for the future, and we are delighted to be able to support them.”

The NextGen Network is a 12 month leadership development program that aims to identify and develop a diverse group of exceptional emerging senior leaders with the potential to strengthen and shape the future of the educational excellence and equity movement. The movement for excellence and equity in American education is at a critical juncture. As this work evolves, it is important to cultivate and support leaders who bring diverse voices and perspectives to the movement, particularly those who represent communities that are currently not well served by our public schools. By identifying individuals who can amplify underrepresented voices, and providing them with high-level leadership development and networking opportunities, this program encourages and supports those who will become senior leaders in the field and helps strengthen the educational equity and excellence movement by engaging more diverse perspectives.

About the Pahara Institute

The Pahara Institute is a national nonprofit organization focused on supporting the sustainability, diversity, and quality of leadership for the educational excellence and equity movement. The guiding principle of the Pahara Institute is that bold improvements are needed for our public schools so that every child in America has access to the tools and skills he or she needs to be successful in life. Pahara’s programs are designed to identify leaders in education innovation, and through a time-tested dialogue approach, strengthen and sustain their efforts to bring about important improvements to our public schools.

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Thoughts on Leadership

I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Thoughts on Leadership

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody.

Herbert B. Swope U.S. editor and journalist

Fellow Perspective

If I hadn’t gone through this program, I’m not sure I would have felt up to taking on my current role. It was confidence-building and reaffirming; it helped me to unleash some talent that I didn’t have the opportunity to within my organization; I could flex some muscles that made me ripe to step into this role. And it gave me an incredible group of fellows for support and encouragement.

Fellow Perspective

The [Pahara-Aspen] Fellowship has truly been one of the most valuable professional experiences I’ve had, chiefly because it’s given me the chance to develop strong relationships with a diverse group of the most outstanding leaders in the field…My organization and its work has benefited significantly from my participation, as have I personally.

Fellow Perspective

The [Pahara-Aspen] Fellowship was by far the best leadership development experience I’ve participated in. Other programs mainly focused on technical and professional development. The Fellows was incredibly powerful because it forced me to develop a better understanding and appreciation for the values and principles that drive my leadership and aspirations, thus helping me to sustain my leadership passion and focus for the long term.

Thoughts on Leadership

All truth passes through 3 stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. And then it is accepted as being self-evident.

Arthur Schopenhauer German Philosopher

Thoughts on Leadership

The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic.

Peter Drucker

Thoughts on Leadership

Every now and then a man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Fellow Perspective

The [Pahara-Aspen] Fellowship helps to re-energize valuable social leaders, and reinvests in their leadership for the marathon (or series of sprints). We need these people to stay committed for the long-haul, in a field that will take the energy they have and does not have the same support networks built in (business school alums, YPO, etc.)… I think that the real impact will be long-term as we all find ways to sustain ourselves as leaders.

Fellow Perspective

After running 120 miles an hour for many years, the [Pahara-Aspen] Fellowship gave me a game changing reflection point — to examine critically what kind of a leader I was shaping up to be, the legacy I was creating, and my identity as a Latina in this space. I was also able to build a support network that has been a source of strength and support. As I reflect on the impact this experience had on me, it was without question what provided the rejuvenation, energy, clarity of direction, and vision that allowed me to meet my potential as a leader. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity.

Thoughts on Leadership

For every roadblock you experience, there is a successful detour or alternate route. You need to be positive and help people solve their problems. The most successful leaders are the ones with the greatest number of viable alternatives.

Colin Powell

Fellow Perspective

The [Pahara-Aspen] Fellowship was an incredibly important leadership experience that created a real inflection point for me, by pushing me to clarify my goals and aspirations, and my own sense of my capabilities, and also providing an amazing fellowship of supporters to encourage me as I stepped up to a greater level of leadership. Without the Fellowship I absolutely would not have stepped up to run for school board.

Fellow Perspective

Because of the [Pahara-Aspen] Fellowship, I am better connected to the education reform movement beyond my traditional circle as a school superintendent. For example, one of my thought partners is the CEO of a very successful CMO. As a result, both the district and the charter movement benefit greatly from sharing effective practices.

Fellow Perspective

The only experiences I’ve had that were more influential in my development as a leader are my 4 years at West Point, and my 7 year career as an Army officer. After these, the fellowship is the most important leadership development experience I’ve had. Over the last month, I’ve had critical conversations and debates with members of my cohort—in 4 different states—that will affect thousands of children.The fellowship experience has been invaluable to me as a leader.

Thoughts on Leadership

Never mistake a clear view for a short distance.

Paul Saffo

Thoughts on Leadership

The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.

Alvin Toffler author of Future Shock

Thoughts on Leadership

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

George Bernard Shaw

Thoughts on Leadership

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you will help them to become what they are capable of being.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German writer

Thoughts on Leadership

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Fellow Perspective

The [Pahara-Aspen] Fellows Program was transformational. It helped me come to terms with some of the uncomfortable complexities and choices that I make in pursuit of building great schools… it brought me into the broader network of educational innovators, and it helped me connect the dots between my civic and private sector pursuits, as well as my personal growth.

Thoughts on Leadership

Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.

Colin Powell

Thoughts on Leadership

It is not the strongest of the species… nor the most intelligent, that survives. It is the one most adaptable to change.

Charles Darwin

Thoughts on Leadership

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

President John F. Kennedy

Fellow Perspective

My Pahara-Aspen Fellowship gave me an unparalleled opportunity to step back from my day to day work. It offered me a vibrant place to explore what kind of leader I aspire to be with the support of, and challenges from, an unequaled group of peers. It’s an experience and a set of relationships I continually draw on as my organization continues to grow.

Thoughts on Leadership

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

African Proverb

Thoughts on Leadership

Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.

Warren Buffett

Thoughts on Leadership

Leaders must wake people out of inertia. They must get people excited about something they’ve never seen before, something that does not yet exist.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School Professor

Fellow Perspective

After 15 years as a CEO, I have a re-energized view of my role as a leader in the field. I am making decisions now that reflect both a greater urgency and more focus.

Thoughts on Leadership

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

Thomas Jefferson

Thoughts on Leadership

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.